Compassion

Compassion comes with the deep understanding of your own mortal humanity. Those who are spared material want in their lives are often compassion-challenged. The reason for this is quite simple. While they will inevitably suffer from aging and will die, they are allowed the material comforts and distractions to avoid experiencing the reality of mortal existence until they are old. I am fascinated by the tendency among wealthy people to climb mountains and endure extreme sports. To me, this indicates a basic human drive to understand and acknowledge their mortal limitations.

The mountain to mindfulness and compassion is perhaps more difficult to climb. In a world where there is an app to distract you at any given moment, maintaining a mindful focus on simply being is more and more difficult. While governments merge to suppress human freedom under international corporate fascism in response to the planet's inevitable deterioration due to human overpopulation, the opiate of technology slowly replaces the opiate of religion. It is more useful to the wealthy leaders. It not only provides mass distraction; each mobile microchip is a potential homing device on each potential trouble-maker. To awaken to this is a first step to individual freedom and compassion.

Compassion comes with experiencing life as it is without the drugs and distracting entertainments of modern society. By meditating daily and spending that time being focused on simply breathing and observing your own mind's unpredictability, you begin to see the true nature of being. By opening to your environment and the people in it, you learn about the range of being human. By looking for the truth behind media distractions, you learn about the corruption that comes with selfishness and power. By nuturing and maintaining your own body with healthy food and exercise, you learn about the reality of physical existence and your place in it. These practices liberate the human mind and body from the oppression of materialism.

What good is wisdom if it is not shared? What good is wealth if it is not shared? What good is well-being if it is not used to serve a greater good? Selfish enjoyment is limiting and leads utlimately to unhappiness. The first step of developing compassion is sharing in whatever capacity you can to promote peace, justice and the greater good.